Remus' POV
A week or so after Christmas, a knock on the door distracted Remus away from his reading, though thankfully its startling sound didn't wake his wife, who was napping upstairs. He rushed to open it, knowing it could only be one of a few people.
"Lupin," Draco greeted from the front porch, clad in a dark travelling cloak, the wind mussing up his blonde hair.
"Draco," Remus said, holding the door open wider to admit him. "We weren't expecting you."
"Well, I've got news," Draco said, allowing Remus to close the door behind him as he shrugged off his cloak. "You won't be pleased."
"I won't?" Remus asked, leading Draco into the sitting room and gesturing for him to take a seat on the sofa. "Why not?"
Draco looked around as he settled himself on the edge of the sofa. "No, you won't... Where is Aunt Selene?"
"She's asleep," Remus said, crossing his arms, "and I beg you not to disturb her. The farther along she gets, the more irritable she is. She needs her rest, that's for sure."
Draco smirked. "Are you in the doghouse, for whatever reason? Trouble in paradise?"
"Never," Remus said, and he was being truthful. His wife had every reason to be miserable; carrying a baby was no easy task, he surmised. He'd let her rage at him all day long if it meant she'd come to bed with him in the evening ready to take on the next day. "Now what's your news? You still haven't said."
Draco clasped his hands in front of him. "Well, like I've said, you won't be pleased. I've heard more talk of Potter."
Remus nearly staggered. He set himself rather heavily in the armchair across from Draco and stared. "Nothing bad, surely. Otherwise we would've heard about it before now –"
"No, no, nothing bad," Draco amended lazily. "Or at least, not really. He's not been captured or anything of that sort. They caught sight of him, however, at the Lovegood house, before he, Granger, and Weasley got away. Apparently he was trying to get a word in with Xenophilius."
"Whatever for?" Remus asked, surprised. He wasn't aware that Harry had ever had any dealings with Xenophilius, much less knew who he was. The man was the editor of the Quibbler, a magazine that had taken to publishing articles in support of Harry (and Remus could not help but respect the man because of this) but he still couldn't see any reason that Harry would risk his security to go and speak to him.
"I – I have no idea," Draco said, a hint of perplexity flashing in his eyes. "No one seems to know why, and Lovegood's not sharing. Good for him, I suppose, but the Death Eaters aren't happy, and they're threatening –"
His words died in his throat, and his jaw snapped shut as he stared at Remus wide-eyed.
"Threatening what, Draco?" Remus asked curiously. "What is it?"
Draco shot him a guilty look. "I wouldn't like to say. It won't reflect well on me."
There was a flash of a memory twinkling bright in Remus' mind.
"It's your brother, isn't it? Lucius? What's he done?" Remus asked, staring intently into Selene's stormy blue eyes.
She frowned up at him, her resolve stiffening at his questioning. Her gaze flickered past him uncertainly, as if she was buying her time to determine how to respond.
"Oh, leave it, Remus. I'm not likely to tell you, or anyone else for that matter. It won't reflect well on me."
"Won't reflect well on you? Or won't reflect well on your family?" Remus asked, as he had all of those years before.
Draco frowned.
"Isn't that one and the same?" she asked him softly, looking up hesitantly.
The memory echoed into Remus' ears through Draco's voice – the voice of a boy seeking approval.
"No, Selene," Remus said firmly. "You're not defined by the actions of others, including your family's. We're only defined by the choices we ourselves make."
"Not in the slightest," Remus said resolutely.
Draco looked unsure, but Remus' firmness seemed to move him enough to say, "They hauled Lovegood's daughter off the Hogwarts Express as she was headed home for Christmas. I think it was to get him to stop printing all of his pro-Potter propaganda –"
"No –" Remus started, shaking his head.
"Yes," Draco nodded. "And what's worse, they're keeping her prisoner in the dungeons of Malfoy Manor."
"The Manor has dungeons?" Remus asked, aghast. "Selene's never mentioned –"
"Well, probably because there's never been much use for them before now," Draco said. "They're been there for centuries, and they've hardly been touched in all that time." A hard line formed at the edge of his mouth. "They're horrid."
"Poor Luna," Remus said quietly.
Draco's frown became even more pronounced. "Yes, well I – I've visited her down there – I've tried to help –" He looked furious with himself, frustrated at his position in the state of things. "I want to undo some of the damage my family has done. I'm – I'm trying to redeem myself."
"For who, Draco?" Remus asked. "For Selene? Because you have to know that she doesn't judge you in the slightest."
"Well, it was for her in the beginning," Draco began slowly, "but now – but now I think it's for me. I want to be better."
"I want to be better than my father and brother," Selene said quietly. "Not for the sake of my image, but for the sake of myself. I don't want to be corrupted by bad choices and dark dealings. I want to live a life that touches others and contributes to the lives of those around me. I want to be good. I want to be better."
"You already are, Draco," Remus said softly.
Selene's POV
January drifted by and was soon followed by February, and Selene and Remus found themselves moving into the Burrow, to Molly's great excitement. Because of Ron's presence at their cottage and Draco's frequent visits, the Lupins had kept to themselves lately, and the Weasley matriarch was careful to remind them of this no less than six times within the first ten minutes since they had walked through the front door.
Selene was not sure of what Molly had spent her days doing before they had come to the Burrow, but their arrival seemed to breathe life into her. She contented herself with making their favourite meals, flitting around the house humming and smiling to herself, and compulsively offering to do their laundry – something Selene and Remus positively refused to let her do. However, Selene could not deny that Molly's presence was a huge comfort to her, especially as they came closer and closer to the birth of the baby.
At this point, Selene supposed that they were only a couple of weeks away from the baby's arrival, and she was miserably uncomfortable. She didn't know how pregnant women – past, present, and future – were able to endure this, and she told Molly so one morning in late February.
"Oh, Selene, I know, dear," Molly said, stirring her tea and giving Selene an understanding nod. "The last few weeks are the worst."
Selene was leaning against Molly's kitchen counter, bracing her back in the hopes that it would bring her temporary relief against the pressure that her nearly full-term baby was putting on her spine. "I want this baby out of me. I want this baby out of me now."
"Well, just looking at you, it seems like it'll be any day now," Molly said, eyeing her knowingly.
"Why, because I'm as big as a house?" Selene said.
"I think you look as gorgeous as always," came a voice from the doorway of the kitchen, and Remus traipsed in, wearing a worn brown coat and heading straight for the coffee pot, pressing a kiss to Selene's cheek as he passed her.
She swatted at him halfheartedly as he passed her. "Only because it's your fault I am this way," Selene said darkly.
Remus only shrugged with a sheepish grin as he raised a mug to his lips. Selene watched as he poorly masked a wince at the taste of the coffee, and she grinned in bitter satisfaction. It was decaf.
"Oh, you'll forget all of the discomfort as soon as you're holding your baby for the first time," Molly said, looking between the two of them with an amused expression. "You'll know it was all worth it."
Remus and Selene exchanged a glance, their faces breaking into bright smiles.
"Well, I'm certainly counting down the days for the baby to get here," Selene said. "I'm ready to find out whether it's a boy or a girl."
"Do the two of you have preference?"
Remus met his wife's eyes, and the two of them shook their heads together. "I don't care either way," he said. "I'll just be happy they're here."
"That's a good attitude to have," Molly said approvingly. She turned to make herself a cup of tea, reaching up into an overhead cabinet. "I do have to ask... how does Harry feel about having a new sibling? He does know, doesn't he?"
Selene frowned. "Remus saw Harry early on and got to tell him, though I wish he'd gotten to be a bigger part of all of this. Harry is a part of our family, and I don't want him to come back and think that we've moved on without him. He needs to know – I want him to know – that he has a place here with us. That he'll always have a place." She leaned into Remus's touch as he came round the corner of the counter to her. "I just feel as if the business of his adoption was all a little rushed, when it should've been celebrated, and then right after, we found out about the baby... I don't want him to think he's being replaced."
"Darling, I really don't think it's like that," Remus soothingly, squeezing her waist lightly. "I think Harry was excited."
"As long as he isn't feeling put-out," Selene sighed. "I just wish he'd been able to be a part of it all... but I suppose in the present circumstances..."
Her voice trailed off and died, but Molly nodded nevertheless.
"He'll come back. They'll all come back," Molly said, holding tightly onto her cup of tea. "Someday this nightmare will be over, and your baby will live in a world with no worries or fear of danger, with two parents and an older brother that love him or her dearly."
"My, isn't that a lovely thought," Remus said quietly.
Selene smiled. "It's a dream."